Things to Do in Arlington, Virginia

Arlington means one thing first: the cemetery

Ask most visitors what’s in Arlington, Virginia, and the honest answer is one place: Arlington National Cemetery. It’s the single reason the overwhelming majority of travelers cross the Potomac into this corner of Northern Virginia, and it deserves to be treated as the destination in its own right rather than a quick stop bolted onto a Washington itinerary. Everything else Arlington has to offer is real, but secondary — the cemetery sets the tone, the pace, and usually the whole visit.

That’s a deliberate contrast with how you’d plan a day in Washington itself. The National Mall rewards moving fast between a dozen free sights in an afternoon. Arlington rewards the opposite: slowing down, walking further than you expect, and giving one place the time it needs.

More than 400,000 people are buried at Arlington National Cemetery, including service members from every American conflict since the Civil War, along with President John F. Kennedy and other notable figures. It is an active military cemetery, not a museum exhibit, and burials with full military honors still take place there most weekdays. That matters for how you behave on-site — quiet voices, no running, no picnics on the grounds — as much as for how you plan your time.

Getting there and the first mix-up to avoid

Arlington is not part of Washington, D.C. It’s a separate county in Virginia, directly across the Potomac River from the District. The confusion is understandable: on a map, the cemetery looks like a natural extension of the National Mall and the Lincoln Memorial, and its entrance is only about a mile from the Lincoln Memorial as the crow flies. But Arlington sits in a different state, under different local government, and it’s worth knowing that distinction before you’re standing at a Metro map trying to figure out why “Arlington” isn’t inside the District boundary you expected.

The good news is that the actual trip is short. From downtown DC, Arlington is roughly 15-30 minutes away, whether you drive or take the Metro. The Blue Line runs directly to the Arlington Cemetery station, which sits right at the cemetery’s welcome center — this is the easiest way in for most visitors, since it avoids the cemetery’s limited on-site parking, which fills early on busy days. Driving takes a similar amount of time outside of rush hour, but parking near the entrance can be scarce, especially on weekends and around Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

Inside the cemetery: free on foot, restricted by car

Entry to Arlington National Cemetery is free and requires no ticket — you walk through security at the welcome center and you’re in. What isn’t unrestricted is movement once you’re inside. Private vehicles have limited access to the cemetery’s internal roads, which means most visitors explore on foot, and the cemetery is genuinely large: 639 hilly, wooded acres, with rows of white headstones stretching well beyond what a first glance from the entrance suggests.

That layout shapes every visit. The welcome center, near the entrance, has the visitor information desk, restrooms, and the boarding point for the paid shuttle tram, which loops past the cemetery’s major stops. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Memorial Amphitheater sit on a hillside a short, uphill walk from the entrance.

Arlington House, the Custis-Lee Mansion, and JFK’s grave sit further out and higher up, and reaching them comfortably usually means either committing to a real walk of a couple of miles round trip, much of it uphill, or paying for the shuttle tram that covers the same stops. Neither option is wrong; it’s a genuine trade-off between cost and legs, and it’s worth deciding before you’re already tired at the entrance gate.

The changing of the guard: a fixed schedule, not a spontaneous moment

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, guarded around the clock since 1948, is the single most-watched moment at Arlington, and it happens on a published, fixed schedule rather than at random intervals. The frequency changes by season — the guard changes more often in warmer months than in winter — so the specific timing shifts through the year. If seeing a changing of the guard is a priority, check the cemetery’s current schedule before you go and build your visit around it, rather than assuming you can simply wander up and catch one at any hour.

This is also where the tone of an Arlington visit is most clearly set. Visitors are expected to stay quiet and stand respectfully during the ceremony — it’s a solemn military tradition honoring unidentified American service members, not a photo backdrop. Most people find that the atmosphere at the Tomb, and around the cemetery generally, asks for a more reflective pace than a typical DC sightseeing stop, and that’s worth preparing for, especially with children.

JFK’s grave and Arlington House

President John F. Kennedy is buried on a slope below Arlington House, marked by an eternal flame that’s visible from a distance across the cemetery. The grave site of his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, sits nearby. Both are a genuine walk from the entrance — not a five-minute detour — and the paid shuttle tram is the practical alternative for visitors who don’t want to make that walk on top of everything else.

Arlington House itself, at the top of the hill above the Kennedy graves, is a restored plantation house with sweeping views back toward the National Mall and the Potomac. It was once the home of Robert E. Lee before the Civil War, and it’s now run by the National Park Service, with exhibits addressing the site’s full history, including the people who were enslaved there. It’s a worthwhile stop for visitors with the time and legs for the climb, and one of the few spots in the cemetery where you get a genuine skyline view of Washington across the river.

Beyond the cemetery: what else is actually in Arlington

Arlington the county is bigger than the cemetery, but it doesn’t have the density of standalone attractions that draws visitors to Alexandria or downtown DC. It’s mostly a residential and commercial area — walkable neighborhoods like Clarendon and Courthouse, a stretch of the Potomac waterfront, and a handful of memorials near the cemetery, including the Marine Corps War Memorial (the Iwo Jima statue) and the Air Force Memorial, both worth a short stop if you have a car or are already in the area.

None of that adds up to a full second day in Arlington on its own, and it isn’t meant to. Most visitors treat Arlington as a focused half-day built around the cemetery, then extend the trip into the rest of Northern Virginia. That’s also the honest reason this page doesn’t go deep on Old Town Alexandria’s shops and restaurants, or on George Washington’s estate at Mount Vernon — both have their own dedicated pages, and both work as natural next stops on the same swing through Virginia, easily combined with Arlington into one longer day since all three sit within a similar 15-30 minute radius of downtown DC.

Booking a guided visit

Arlington National Cemetery can be visited entirely on your own with no ticket, but a guide adds real context to a site whose meaning isn’t always obvious from a map or a sign — why certain sections are laid out the way they are, who’s buried where, and what the cemetery’s Cold War-era memorials, like the CIA Memorial Wall, actually commemorate.

For visitors who want that context without giving up a full day, a small-group option like the walking tour that includes the CIA Memorial Wall covers ground most self-guided visitors miss entirely.

Families or groups traveling together sometimes prefer a private tour for up to ten guests, which sets its own pace rather than following a fixed group schedule. And for visitors combining Arlington with the rest of the capital in one day, a full-day tour pairing the US Capitol with cemetery entry handles the logistics of both stops in a single booking.

Planning your Arlington visit at a glance

What	Detail
Distance from downtown DC	15-30 minutes by Metro (Blue Line) or car
Cemetery entry	Free on foot, no ticket required
Cemetery vehicle access	Restricted; most sites reached on foot or by paid shuttle tram
Changing of the guard	Fixed schedule, varies by season — check before you go
Time needed	2-3 hours for the main sites; a half day to see JFK’s grave and Arlington House at an easy pace
Nearby extensions	Alexandria, Mount Vernon, both a short drive further into Northern Virginia

Where Arlington fits in a Washington trip

Arlington works best as a deliberate half-day stop rather than an afterthought squeezed between Mall sights. Visitors following one of the two-day or longer Washington itineraries often place it on a day dedicated to memorials and monuments, pairing it with the monuments and memorials guide for the Marine Corps War Memorial and Air Force Memorial nearby, or read the fuller Arlington National Cemetery visitor guide for a section-by-section breakdown before setting out.

Travelers extending into a full day trip can start with the Arlington day trip guide, then continue on to things to do in Alexandria or things to do in Mount Vernon for the rest of the day, or check the broader Northern Virginia guide for how the three fit together.

For visitors who’d rather see Arlington folded into downtown sightseeing on the same day, a self-guided Northern Virginia tour gives the flexibility to move between Arlington and its neighbors at your own pace.

And if the cemetery is one stop among several planned for the capital, the National Mall walking guide and the Library of Congress and Supreme Court guide cover the DC side of that same day well. General trip logistics, including where to stay and how to get around without a car, are covered on the travel tips hub, and the monuments and memorials category page rounds up other sites in the same reflective vein across the region.

Frequently asked questions about visiting Arlington

Is Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.?

No. Arlington National Cemetery, and the town of Arlington around it, sit across the Potomac River in Virginia, not in the District of Columbia. It’s a common mix-up because the cemetery reads on a map like an extension of the National Mall, but it’s a separate jurisdiction reached by its own Metro stop or a short drive over the river.

Is Arlington National Cemetery free to visit?

Entry on foot is free, with no ticket required. What isn’t free, or isn’t unrestricted, is getting around once you’re inside: private vehicles have limited access to cemetery roads, and reaching the far sections comfortably usually means a long walk or a paid shuttle tram.

What time is the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier?

The guard changes on a fixed schedule that varies by season — every half hour in warmer months, every hour in the colder months, and every half hour again during the cemetery’s summer visiting hours. Because the schedule shifts with the time of year, check the current cemetery schedule before you go rather than assuming a fixed time.

How do I get from Washington, D.C. to Arlington?

Arlington is 15-30 minutes from downtown DC. The Metro’s Blue Line runs directly to the Arlington Cemetery station at the cemetery’s welcome center, which is usually the easiest option since parking near the cemetery is limited and often full by mid-morning. Driving takes about the same time in light traffic but longer at rush hour.

Can you visit JFK’s grave and Arlington House on foot?

Yes, but plan for real walking. Both John F. Kennedy’s gravesite and Arlington House sit on higher ground away from the cemetery’s entrance, and the walk between the welcome center, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, JFK’s grave, and Arlington House covers a couple of miles of hills. The paid shuttle tram covers the same ground for visitors who’d rather not walk it.

How much time should I set aside for Arlington National Cemetery?

Most visitors need 2-3 hours to see the welcome center, walk to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for a changing of the guard, and reach at least one of JFK’s grave or Arlington House. Visitors who want to see all three major sites at a relaxed pace, or who add the shuttle tram, should plan closer to a half day.

Is Arlington worth a full day, or just a stop on the way to somewhere else?

The cemetery alone easily fills a morning or afternoon, and it’s the main reason to come. Arlington doesn’t have a dense cluster of other paid attractions the way Old Town Alexandria or downtown DC do, so most visitors treat it as a focused half-day stop and pair it with Alexandria or Mount Vernon, both a short drive further into Northern Virginia, to round out the day.